Veritas to Acquire NTPs Storage Reporter

Veritas Software Corp. is acquiring from NTP Software Inc. Storage Reporter, a file-based product that tells users details like a files age, backup status, directory size, overall size, owner and type.
Veritas will merge Storage Reporter with its own storage resource management software, the block-based SANPoint Control, officials said.
"We bought the intellectual property, the people and the customer base" for an undisclosed but non-significant amount, Veritas spokeswoman Brenda Zawatski said. The new employees and users each number about 10, she said.

Veritas, of Mountain View, Calif., will re-launch Storage Reporter in one month. In six months itll be an option to SANPoint Control, and in 12 to 18 months itll be an option to Veritas Backup Exec, File System, NetBackup, NetBackupStorage Migrator and Volume Manager, Zawatski said.

More important, the acquisition of Storage Reporter will help Veritas build its controversial Global Operations Manager, or GOM, strategy. GOM is a future Veritas product for managing applications, servers and storage all through one console. "The strategic piece is taking what we learn in physical and logical levels and upgrading that into the business levels," Zawatski said. But "this isnt the end-all, cure-all. Its one piece," she said.
"This was a functionality they needed in their product line, and it was easier to buy it than build it. Its a good time to go and buy things because theyre cheap," said Anders Lofgren, analyst with Giga Information Group, in Cambridge, Mass. "Their name hasnt come up with any of my end users. Theyre kind of a specialized player," he added.